Bottle dispenser



R. T. WRIGHT 2,261,910

BOTTLE DISPENSER Filed Sept. 26, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 l h/r/// x Z4 4a MM;

Nov. 4, 1941.

lnl enfar" ROLAND T. WEIGHT Harvey .v

Patented Nov. 4, 1941 BOTTLE- DISPENSER Roland T. Wright, St. Louis,Mo., assignor to Valor Vendors, Inc., St. Louis, Mo., a corporation ofMissouri Application September 26, 1938, Serial No. 231,633

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in dispensers wherein a pluralityof units are placed within a storage container of some sort, and fromwhich a single unit at a time is withdrawn, these units following oneanother in sequence until all of the units within the device have beenextracted, and whereupon a fresh supply must be replaced for furtherwithdrawals in like manner. Although the device is primarily intendedfor the dispensing of bottles, as for example, of iced beverages, itwill be obvious from the disclosure herein given that the uses of themechanism may be extended to other articles desired to be dispensed inunit amounts.

The invention has among its objects the production of a device of thekind described, that will be neat and attractive in appearance, simpleand economical in construction and operation, smooth and quiet inoperation, long lasting, and

otherwise satisfactory and efficient for use wherever deemed applicable.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a mechanismfor dispensing bottles, in which there will be a spiral passageway alongwhich the bottles may be arranged at spaced intervals, and havingoperating means for so advancing said bottles along said passageway thatthe outermost bottle is discharged and all of the other bottles areadvanced ready for discharging the then outermost bottle (in thepassageway) upon the next successive operation of the control mechanism.

Another object of my invention is to provide a mechanism of the kinddescribed, wherein there will be a, plurality of concentrically arrangedplatforms, on all of which bottles may be arranged at spaced intervals,with a baffle or bridge between each of said platforms and the nextoutwardly adjacent one, all of said platform beingrotated in unison, andmeans whereby the bottles will be pushed along said baffies from aninner to the next outer platform.

A further object of my invention is to provide spacer and pusher lugs oneach of said platforms, the forward and trailing edges of said lugsbeing so proportioned that the bottles will move easily and quietlyalong the passageway during their advancement toward the dischargeoutlet, without binding or locking of the various parts of themechanism, and so that as soon as the bottles leave one platform theywill be properly propelled along the next succeeding platform.

An added object of this invention is to provide a withdrawal outlet forsuch a dispenser, in

which there is a cover normally closing said outlet, but when the bottleis being discharged from its association with the other bottles instorage,

the bottle being discharged will fall slightly from its normal verticalposition, into said withdrawal outlet, and in so falling will strikeagainst said cover to lift the latter sufiiciently so that the bottle isin view and enabling the bottle to be grasped between the fingers of theperson who is operating the device and lifted from the dispenser, thecover falling by gravity to its normally closed position as soon as thebottle has been withdrawn from the outlet.

Many other objects and advantages of the construction herein shown anddescribed, and the uses mentioned, will be obvious to those skilled inthe art to which this invention appertains, as will be apparent from thedisclosures herein given.

To this end, my invention consists in the novel construction,arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described, and theuses mentioned, as will be more clearly pointed out in the claimshereunto appended.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like orcorresponding. parts throughout the views,

Figure 1 is a top plan View of a bottle dispenser, with the usual lidtherefor removed;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the same, takensubstantially along the line 2-2 of Fig 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view, to more clearlyillustrate the movement of the bottles within the dispenser; and VFigure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional View, taken substantially alongthe line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein I have illustrateda preferred embodiment of my invention, there is shown a mechanism fordispensing units of merchandise, as for examples bottles of beverages,as desired. Such a mechanism may be coin-controlled, in any special orregular manner, but it is to be understood that this application doesnot extend to the manner of controlling the operating mechanism.

A casing or box I is arranged to be iced, or the same may be providedwith some sort of a refrigerating unit (not shown), so as to Drop erlycool the beverages within the device during their travel to thedischarge point, the bottles being removed at the outlet 2 whose axis isat an angle to the vertical. A closure or cover plate 3 is movablyseated on the upper end'of the outlet, as by the hinged edge 4, so thatwhen a bottle is within said outlet in the position shown, the top ofthe bottle will lift said cover sufficiently to expose enough of thebottle to permit grasping of the latter without actually touching thecover with the hand, to withdraw the bottle ready for consumption fromthe dispenser. As soon as said last-mentioned bottle has been extracted,the cover will thereupon drop, of its own weight, to its normal closedposition on said outlet. Thus, said outlet is maintained sufiicientlysealed against the entrance of dirt, dust or other foreign matter orobjects thereinto.

Within the casing I, there is arranged a plurality of rings orplatforms, there being three shown in this construction, and designatedas 5, 6 and I in the order shown, the ring being the radially innermostone, the ring 1 being the outermost one, and of course, the other onebeing intermediate.

These rings are preferably concentrically arranged, on the samehorizontal plane, and are at least wide enough to comfortably seat thebottles 8 so as to allow suflicient clearance for irregularities inbottle sizes and probably a small amount in addition, such a smallclearance minimizing the noisiness of operation of the device, to acertain extent.

Spacer lugs 9 are arranged at predetermined intervals on each of saidplatforms, the forward and trailing edges of said lugs being preferablyshaped in a predetermined manner about to be herein described, theforward or advance edge of said lug being represented at H! and the rearor trailing edge being indicated at I I, these terms being stated asrelative to the direction of travel of the bottles within the device. 2

A substantially spiral passageway is formed from the inner to the outerpart of the mechanism, and along which the bottles must travel to thepoint of discharge from the device, said passageway being formed of thesubstantially circular or sleeve portions l2, l3, l4 and [5respectively, concentrically arranged and substantially bounding theinner and outer peripheries of the platforms, and with intermediatebaffle or bridge portions I6, I! and I8 bridging across each pair ofadjacent sleeves, said baflles being preferably parallel to one another.although the rings are rotatable, the sleeves and bafiles forming thespiral passageway are fixed or stationary relative to said rings.Further, each of said bafile portions has an opening or cut-out l9therethrough, of sufficient height and width to permit passage of thelugs 9 there through, as indicated more particularly in Figs. 3 and 4.

In laying out the shape of the lugs so as to perform their intendedfunction in the best possible manner, the lugs of each ring or platformare of a size different than those of the other platforms, and aredesigned as follows, particular reference being had to Fig. 3:

Assuming that we wish to design the shaping of the lugs for theintermediate platform, we first strike off the lines a and I) each at atangent to the central tube portion l2 of the spiral passageway, andintersecting one another along an arc substantially along the centers ofthe bottles moving along said intermediate platform. Next, a line c isdrawn from the center of the tube portion I2 through the saidintersection and terminating at the outer periphery of said platform.The line (1 is constructed perpendicular to It is to be noted that Isaid line 0', midway between said point of intersection aforementionedand said outer periphery of said platform. That portion of saidfirstmentioned tangent line that is between said intersection and theouter rim of the platform forms the rear or trailing edge of the lug,and the forward or advance edge is formed by striking an are along saidline d, of a radius that enables said forward portion of the lug to fallwithin said line 0 and the line b, somewhat as shown. The adjacent lugson said platform are of the same size as the lug just mentioned, and

, are spaced apart a sufiicient distance to enable a bottle to beinserted between the adjacent lugs, plus any additional clearancedesired. However, the more clearance that there is, the greater theamount of rattling and other noises that are apt to occur during theoperation of the mechanism.

Another advantage of making a minimum clearance between adjacent lugs isto discourage substitution of one kind of beverage for another by themerchant using the dispenser. This enables a close control by thedistributer of the bottles that the dispenser is primarily installedfor.

All of the platforms are rotatably driven in unison, through suitablemeans, as for example, by ring gears 20 carried thereby, all of likepitch, and the number of teeth on each gear being substantially exactlydivisible by the major diameter of the bottles to be dispensed. Thesering gears each mesh with a pinion 2| carried on a shaft 22 rotatablydriven through intermediate drive means 23 to a point beyond the casing,as a handwheel 24. As hereinbefore stated, a coin control may be usedfor governing the step-bystep actuation of the dispenser if so desired.Anti-friction means 25 may be placed between the platforms and thecasing as indicated.

In operation, the dispenser is filled with bottles, with a bottle ineach of the spaces formed by the adjacent lugs on each platform, and thedispenser iced or refrigerated. The bottles then advance a distancealong the spiral passageway equal to the diameter of a bottle, upon eachactuation of the dispenser.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 3, there is a bottle shown as havingbeen advanced from the innermost platform to the intermediate platform,another bottle as having been advanced but partially to the outermostplatform from the intermediate platform, and another bottle about to bedischarged through the outlet 2. This lastmentioned bottle travels inits normal vertical or upright position on the outermost movableplatform until its unbalanced weight causes it to topple over from saidupright position to the inclined position shown in Fig. 2. As it falls,it actuates the closure 3 to lift the latter, thereby permitting theperson using the machine to grasp the exposed bottle neck and completelywithdraw the bottle from the mechanism.

As the bottles on the respective platforms travel along their paths andreach the baflle or bridging portions of the passageway, the latterprevent further movement of the bottles therepast, except lengthwise ofsaid bafiles, and as is clearly shown in Fig. 3, the rotation of theplatforms will cause the lugs adjacent said baffles to engage on theiradvance edges with the bottles to actuate the latter lengthwise of saidbaflles, the lugs passing beneath the baflles through the openings l9while the bottles are received onto the next outer ring or platform,whereupon said bottles so received are similarly actuated by the lugs onthe last-mentioned ring.

Due to the specific shape of the forward and trailing edges of the lugsof each platform, the bottles move between said lugs with uniformclearance, and without rattling or any accidental displacement thatmight cause jamming or other interference with the continued operationof the dispenser.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that variousimmaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing fromthe spirit of my invention; hence I do not wish to be understood aslimiting myself to the exact form, construction, arrangement andcombination herein shown or described, or the uses mentioned, except aslimited by the state of the art to which this invention appertains, andthe claims hereunto appended.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a dispenser, a plurality of article-receiving platforms arrangedconcentrically, means for rotating said platforms in unison, and meansfor consecutively discharging said articles from each of said platformsonto the next outer platform.

2. In a dispenser for delivering articles, individual platforms toreceive said articles in spaced relation, means for advancing all ofsaid platforms simultaneously, a baflle stationary across each platformto prevent movement of said articles therepast, and means on eachplatform to engage said articles and actuate them along said baflies todischarge the articles in sequence onto the next adjacent outerplatform.

3. In a bottle dispenser for discharging bottles singly, a plurality ofindividual bottle-supporting platforms substantially in a plane, meansfor rotating all of said platforms simultaneously at like uniformspeeds, a baffle stationary across each movable platform to preventpassage of bottles therepast, and bottle-engaging lugs on each platformto slidably actuate said bottles along the baffles into the path oftravel of the lugs on the next adjacent outer platform, said bafliesbeing free of engagement with said lugs.

4. In a dispenser, a plurality of article-receiving platforms arrangedconcentrically substantially in the same plane, means to rotate saidplatforms in a given manner, and means to consecutively discharge saidarticles from the inner to the next outer platforms.

5. In a bottle dispenser, a plurality of concentrically arrangedbottle-supporting platforms, means for rotating all of said platforms inunison at the same linear speed, bottle-engaging lugs spaced apart oneach platform a distance substantially equal to the diameter of saidbottles, and a bafile stationary across each platform to prevent passageof the bottles therepast and constructed to permit passage of said lugstherepast, whereby said lugs slidably actuate said bottles along saidbaffles into the path of travel of the lugs on the next outer adjacentplatform, said lugs having convex forward edges.

6. In a bottle dispenser, a plurality of concentrically arrangedbottle-supporting platforms, means for rotating all of said platforms inunison, bottle-engaging lugs spaced apart on said platforms, and astationary baffle across each of said platforms and having openings topermit movement of said lugs but not of said bottles therepast, saidlugs having convex forward edges and having their trailing edges tangentto the inner periphery of said innermost platform, to

permit complete passage of said bottles therebetween in all phases ofmovement of the bottles.

'7. In a bottle dispenser, a plurality of concentrically arrangedplatforms substantially in a plane, a stationary bafile substantiallybounding each platform and bridging adjacent platforms to substantiallyform a spiral passageway, said baffles having cut-outs at said bridgingportions to permit passage of lugs therethrough, means for driving saidplatforms in unison, and lugs circumferentially spaced on all of saidplatforms to move therewith and pass through said cutouts, whereby saidlugs on each platform will actuate the bottles thereon slidably alongits bridged baflie portion into the path of travel of the lugs on thenext outer platform.

8. In a dispenser, a plurality of individual rotary platforms, means forrotating said platforms in substantially the same plane, and meansrelatively stationary on said platforms for consecutively dischargingarticles in sequence from the innermost to the outermost platform.

ROLAND T. WRIGHT.

